I must confess that whenever I give blood, I almost never follow the post-donation instruction of leaving the bandage on for 4-5 hours.

Truth be told, I often don’t make it out of the parking lot before that sucker is off my arm.

And I don’t read the entire booklet thoroughly before each donation. I scan it to see if there is anything new since the last time. (This time there was a new request to not donate if you have chronic fatigue syndrome…see, I still know what I need to know). If I had read that entire booklet each time I’ve donated, I should easily have had it memorized years ago.

I also don’t read the questions word for word. I can get the jist of the question by scanning it. I would be pretty surprised if anybody had ever read it word for word more than a few times (except the workers, of course, who used to have to read them to the donors). But to ease your mind lest you think that I don’t know what the questions are, here’s an example of the type of question they ask:

*Have you ever had sex with a man who has had sex with another man who has had sex with another man who has taken illegal drugs by needle while receiving a transfusion of blood while in the country of Africa?

*This is NOT an actual question, but if you’re familiar with the blood donation questions, you know what I’m talking about.